On Wednesday I got my COVID vaccine. I was fortunate to get the single shot Johnson and Johnson version, which means I will be up to full immunity much more quickly than those getting the two-dose, who need the three weeks in between plus the time after to get up to full strength. It may come at the price of slightly less effectiveness, based on what some say, but given that I'm not high risk I think it's worth getting protection sooner for now. If I need to get another one in six months, we'll see. With cases rising like crazy right now, the future seems a lot less clear than it did for a while. Stupid variants.
The good news is that my side effects were minimal. I got very lucky. My cousin and her fiance got the same vaccine the day before I did and were basically down for the count the whole next day. I only had a sore arm, a dull, pounding headache, and a low-grade fever I wouldn't have known I had unless I checked it out of curiosity. It sat around 99-100 all day, but I never had any symptoms indicating it was there. The headache was merely annoying--it made focusing on boring work a little tougher, but it wasn't terribly painful. I didn't want to take any medicine since they question if that can interfere with whatever work the vaccine is doing, so I just dealt with it the best I could. The funniest part is that I kept feeling like maybe I was getting some body aches, but no, I think it was mostly that my pulled upper back from last Friday was still a bit sore and the work the chiropractor did to it on Wednesday added a couple extra twinges (though overall it definitely helped--I can sleep in whatever position I want now!). And sure enough, like most people, I woke up this morning feeling fine, with a temperature at 98.6 right on the dot!
By last night, though, the headache was getting to me and I really just wanted to sit and relax. It was an absolutely gorgeous day outside--mid-70s with every tree suddenly exploding!--so after dinner I headed out to the porch with my computer. On Easter my dad gave me a flash drive with a whole collection of family videos. My dad's younger brother put it together, and the majority of what's on the drive involves his three daughters, but there is a solid contingent of other family videos dating back as far as the 60s. My dad had me watch the oldest one on Easter, which also included background music of my grandpa's organ playing. My grandpa was an amazing organ player and their house was often filled with his music. It definitely felt a little fuddy-duddy when I was a kid, but I still had my favorites, and hearing it for the first time in many years definitely brought back memories. It was pretty outstanding to see my dad and his siblings as kids, too, not to mention a great-grandfather I never met and other relatives far younger than I had ever seen them in a moving image. I knew there was a lot more to discover beyond that one and I felt like maybe hearing and seeing my grandparents (as I knew them, in particular) might be a nice distraction from my pounding head.
Oh, the treasures I found! The video of my grandpa's exasperated reaction upon seeing the limo that his kids had rented for their 50th anniversary was pretty great, and even made me a little teary because it was a perfect representation of his personality. Bits and pieces of that party were fun to see, too--again, keeping in mind that my parents are now inexplicably about the same ages as they were then. There were so many glimpses of relatives who have passed away--my three uncles, an aunt, my great-grandma--and it simultaneously made me so happy to see them and so brokenhearted that they're gone, some for a very long time. My Uncle Bink was the first to go back in 1997, which seems like an eternity now. My grandpa went a couple years later. My grandma has been gone for over 15 years. The videos were a little peek into a different time, when everything was just as it should have been. I'd almost forgotten how everyone looked back then, and it was shocking to realize I'm now older than (or within a year of two of) pretty much every aunt or uncle back then. I think I definitely look younger and cooler (and I don't think that's just my imagination), but it's insane how things evolve like that--that I'm now not only the "uncool aunt", but my kids are in the older half of their generation and my younger cousins are the ones adding babies to the mix!
My favorite video was from Christmas 1987. The Christmas videos perfectly capture the complete chaos in that crowded living room, and I first came across 1988 and was hopeful that was the year I got what I consider my favorite Christmas gift ever. I was disappointed to recall that it was actually the year before, but I was thrilled to discover that year shortly after. I frantically scanned through it and found what I was looking for--the moment I opened my desperately-wanted Hot Looks doll! As gawky and awkward as I was in most of the family videos (my late 80s were full of bad hair, awful clothes, and braces), you can see the complete and utter joy on my nine-year-old face! It was great. My uncle also happened to capture the spelling bee where I came in second place (while my parents were in Las Vegas, no less). It was horrifying to see most of that, and I honestly couldn't watch myself lose! There was a funny video from 1986 of my uncle hanging out in his oldest daughter's completed nursery before she was born, giving the tour and talking about her impending arrival. Amazing.
One of the more interesting discoveries was a number of lengthy videos of basketball games--first a couple games at the K-8 school my cousins and I attended, one of which featured my cousin Kim in 5th grade and the other that had my brother in 7th and my cousin Chris in 6th--and second, my cousin Todd playing in high school. Later on there was a high school game with my brother, too. Jacob had a field day critiquing, especially with my brother who was the same age in the first video that Jacob is now. And yes, Jacob's level of play is much higher, but it was definitely a different time when play was a lot more casual, three-pointers were rare, and travel basketball wasn't as widespread. Not to mention that my brother was also a good baseball player and golfer, so not all of his energy went into perfecting his basketball skills. I have yet to find any footage of me a few years later as a cheerleader, so that's probably a good thing!
I have so many other videos to look through, too. I keep finding myself looking for bits and pieces that capture the essence of those relatives who have passed, or that capture a certain forgotten period of time. One had my youngest uncle and me playing a game of Simon at my great-grandma's birthday party. Who does that anymore? I was amused by one video that was primarily of my parents, aunt and uncle practicing their golf swings, but had 11ish-year-old me in the background playing on the tire swing of death on the playground at my school. The playground there was a series of wood and metal monstrosities that had a tendency to break or otherwise cause injury. I knocked the wind out of myself falling from the giant monkey bars in first grade, but that was my own fault. The bridge on the main climbing structure, the connectors on the tire climb, and the connection at the top of the tire swings all had moments of complete failure over the years. The tire swings were the worst offenders but they were giant and so fun when they were functional! I spent many a post-lunch recess defying the rules of digestion by spinning myself silly, and it was entertaining to flash back to all of the ways I used to play on that swing as I watched the background of that video.
It may not have taken away my headache, but it did make me smile to see some of these long lost family moments. If nothing else, it's a good reminder to savor the moments we have now (as if the past year wasn't enough of a reminder) because all too quickly time is going to pass and things will change once again. Even five or 10 years from now they will have an entirely different significance. Looking back, I feel lucky to have lived those moments when I did, because they were great the first time around. Some of the time I was aware of the amazingness, and some of the time I wasn't. But even by the time I was a young teenager, riding my bike to my grandparents' house on random summer afternoons just to hang out, I was become more aware that those days wouldn't last forever. And sure enough, they didn't--and they're getting further and further in the rear view mirror now. Decades, in fact. But it's nice to have another chance to see those moments again and savor their importance once again. Family is everything. And mine was pretty darn amazing.
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